Skiing: Riesch takes title

Marlies Schild won the final slalom of the women's World Cup season while third place was enough to give Maria Riesch the title.

German picks up slalom going as Schild wins final women's slalom

Marlies Schild won the final slalom of the women's World Cup season while third place was enough to give Maria Riesch the title. Austrian Schild won the race by an impressive one minute 20 seconds, her third World Cup victory of a season in which she has returned to the circuit after sustaining a badly fractured leg in a pre-season crash in 2008. But the spotlight fell on double Olympic champion Riesch, who won the crystal globe after pipping Austrian Kathrin Zettel by just three points in the final reckoning. Riesch, who took the title for the second year in a row, won the combined and slalom gold medals at last month's Vancouver Games and finished second behind Lindsey Vonn in the overall World Cup standings. "I was certainly more nervous than at the Olympics because I didn't feel the same level of energy and the same aggressiveness in me as I did in Canada," said Riesch, who was racing for the fourth time in four days. "It has been a long season and I was really tired," added Riesch, won also won Wednesday's downhill. "I didn't have the juice as I did in February but I'm really proud to get my second podium in four days, this consistency is extraordinary. "I told myself that even if I didn't win today, I've had a perfect season. The conditions were really tough and demanding." Veteran Schild, who took the silver medal in Vancouver, was landing her 23rd World Cup win - 21 of which have come in slaloms. "This is exactly the way I wanted to finish the season with another win, especially on this difficult course," said the 28-year-old, who needed surgery four times on her leg and missed the entire 2008-09 season. "To do well on a course which was so icy and so steep, to excel in these conditions, was a big boost in my comeback season. "I did much more than I expected with three wins and an Olympic silver medal. "This is what I needed to get ready for next year. I'm ecstatic to have done so well in these conditions." Result
1. Marlies Schild (Austria) 56.51 53.06 1:49.57
2. Kathrin Zettel (Austria) 57.73 53.04 1:50.77
3. Maria Riesch (Germany) 57.61 53.86 1:51.47
4. Fanny Chmelar (Germany) 58.54 53.10 1:51.64
5. Sandrine Aubert (France) 58.25 53.56 1:51.81
6. Tina Maze (Slovenia) 58.23 53.59 1:51.82
7. Maria Pietilae-Holmner (Sweden) 58.38 53.51 1:51.89
8. Tanja Poutiainen (Finland) 58.49 53.53 1:52.02
9=.Sarka Zahrobska (Czech Republic) 57.56 54.62 1:52.18
9=.Katharina Duerr (Germany) 57.67 54.51 1:52.18 Slalom standings
1. Maria Riesch (Germany) 493 points
2. Kathrin Zettel (Austria) 490
3. Marlies Schild (Austria) 420
4. Sandrine Aubert (France) 406
5. Sarka Zahrobska (Czech Republic) 347 Overall standings
1. Lindsey Vonn (U.S.) 1671 points
2. Maria Riesch (Germany) 1516
3. Anja Paerson (Sweden) 1047
4. Tina Maze (Slovenia) 943
5. Kathrin Zettel (Austria) 938